Arizona weekly enterprise., 1887-09-17
THE INDIAN MEDICINE MAN.

which actuate his subjects as well as him. self. The following declaration is cer- tainly remarkable:
 ''I have known neuralgias, rheuIna- tisms, levers, dysenteries, diarrh9as, agues, paralyses, cystitis, etc., to be per manently relieved or benefited; tumors to disappear; convulsions controlled or pro- duced; persons to become instantaneously stricken with blindness or palsy; rendered oblivious to pain and torture; deprived of muscular power and made as rigid as marble; to drop as if dead and pulseless; rise and walk when an instant before in- capable of the slightest exertion-an by the coniurations and incantations of med icine men. Also, l am personally con- versant with the prediction of events in the far future exactly as they subse- quently occurred, and with scrupulous fidelity to details; the movements of per- sons and individuals to be described in minutiae who had never been seen, much less heard of, and who were hundreds of miles away at the time. Moreover, I have witnessed feats of legerdemain, jug glery and necromancy, exhibited in broad daylight, under the full glare of the sun, as well as at night, without parapherna-
 
 most astute professor of civilized magic; some, to be sure, susceptible of explana- tion under physical and psychical laws, and others not so readily disposed of, save as optical and aural dclusions and tricks of the imagination"
 Noise and odor are the means by which the medicine man operates upon the demons which affiict the sick man. The patient is shut up ill a close and stifiing atmosphere and submitted to combina- tions of sounds and smells calculated to drive the most Obstreperous of foul devils to the remote confines of space-odors so very internal and nauseous that even dogs are made ill thereby"
 When the medicine man is called, he proceeds to business at once. The diag- nosis does not bother him, for all diseases have similar origin, and, by means of tllo amulet5 in his medicine bag, he can immediately find out which is the special foul fiend he has to deal with, as well as discern the proper treatment. Only one opinion is possible; the number and malignancy of the demons at work in Q given case is the only thing to be de- tornlined.
 II DOooAbAC, lAlO PuO OAA reltil night, because the spirits are more easily brought under discipline in dark ness. The proccedi44E5 -usllaity begin with monotonous chant that rises and falls with abrupt infections. In this the demons are alternately coaxed, hu- mored or threatened, and in every way abjured to leave their present habitation and resume their proper forms. In the meantime the assistants keep up a run ming accompaniment with drums and rat | ties made from gourds and parchment. l Gradually the songs become louder and more violent, the drums and rattles in- crease their din, higher and higher, shriller and still moro shrin becomes the voice of the conjurer, until it becomes a | frantic, piercing shriek, and the din is a pandemonium, altogether fendish, craz- ing and cxcruciating beyond comprehen- sion. Finally, utterly exhausted, the chief performer, black in the face and streaming precipitation from every pore, pauses and-eats. All present fall to and fill themselves to repletion. This per formance is repeated again and again, while the smoke and fumes of burning gunpowder, fish entrails, bear's hair, parchment, fur and other odorous sub. stances too disgusting to mention fill the lodge to suffocation with smells that can fairly be felt. During the interval the patient is blown upon with the breath, the painful parts sucked with the mouth, or gashed with knives or Hints, so that an imitation of wet cupping can be practiced by means of bison horn from which the air has been exhausted by suction. TC complete the expulsion of tho demon, and
 to keep him away, tho incantation endf
 with discharge of firearms through the
 lodges and allsaround, and this is some
 times kept up for hours after the medi
 cine man has taken his departure.
 Sometimes the demon shows but little
 strength and is driven away quite easily
 but q strong and malignant individua
 may require grand council of practi
 tioners and several weeks of efforts like those just described before the patient gets well or dies-in other words, before
 the demons prove amenable to discipline
 or show themselves too strong. Unfor-
 tunately, in spite of all precautions, the
 demon frequently returns; there is re lapse; or, as the unbeliever might say the nervous excitement and impression upon the imagination wear off, and the samo old conditions are found to be pres ent as before. This, of course, require more incantations, until ct last nature comes to the sick mans aid or deatl , closes the sceno. In the latter event th'
 practitioner is not blamed. It is to bt
 expected that demon of any power ol
 reputation would endeavor to outwit tn,
 medicine men and come back with every : opportunity, and the more powerful it
 manifestations when it does come bacl the greater the evidence of abilit, on tn part of the practitioner. Besides, tn
 one first in possession may have called il
 others to help him defy the medicin . men, or the supreme spirit himself ma, have taken matters into his own hand
 and interfered with all efforts to save tn
 patient because the latter has broker \ some VOW made years before, perhaps At all events, the result was inevitable 8 for the savage is firm believer in fate.- Globe-Democrat.